Suggestions on a Volunteer's first radio

[notdavelol]

Hello there! I'm new on the forum.
I've recently submitted my online application to my local township fire station to become a volunteer firefighter. I'm currently in the market for a "cheaper" hand held scanner. When I use the word cheap, I mean budget friendly, as I know you get what you pay for.

I currently live in Bloomingburg, Ohio zip 43106. I've applied for volunteer at a much bigger city near my hometown as well. That's Washington Court House, Ohio zip 43160. I Googled some information on frequencies and the first hit was this site's info here: Fayette County, Ohio (OH) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

I used the "Choose a scanner for this area" tool and it recommended me the Uniden BC346XT (Analog) Trunktracker 3 for $199.99. BC346XT Portable Compact Handheld Scanner - Scanners at Uniden

I was curious, since the tech specs on Uniden's website doesn't say anything about EDACS does it support this feature? I'm quoting the counties frequency search when it says "All regular incident communications are now being done on the Fayette County EDACS trunked system"

Lastly, is this the only hand held option for me? I was checking out this model as well, for half the price $99.99 RadioShack PRO-164 1000-Channel Handheld Scanner : Handheld Scanners | RadioShack.com it has good/decent reviews and looks like good/decent support.

Is there a compelling reason to spend $200 on a scanner? If so, any and all information would be appreciated. I'm interested in hearing Fire, EMS, Police, Local School Bus chatter, Weather Alerts (Not sure if this is supported through NOAA or SAME or how this feature works)

I'm not interested in any aviation, HAM, etc.

Thanks in advance. I appreciate all you do here. Very helpful information for the less educated folks on radio information.

 

[LtDoc]

Before spending a bundle I think it would be a fairly good idea to see what others on the same department are using. They can also give suggestions because of their 'goofs' in scanner choices. I can certainly understand the "I want it now" thingy, but you've got lots of time. Really...
- 'Doc

 

[Sportster77]

Since most of Ohio is slowly moving onto the MARCS or MARCS-IP systems you might want to check to see if your local Radio Shack has a PRO-18 Digital scanner in stock and on clearance. If they do it may be worth the $200 to buy it and not need to upgrade your radio anytime in the near future. Where as with an analog scanner you may need to then go out and spend $400 or more for a digital scanner in a few years.

 

[N8IAA]

Hello there! I'm new on the forum.
I've recently submitted my online application to my local township fire station to become a volunteer firefighter. I'm currently in the market for a "cheaper" hand held scanner. When I use the word cheap, I mean budget friendly, as I know you get what you pay for.

I currently live in Bloomingburg, Ohio zip 43106. I've applied for volunteer at a much bigger city near my hometown as well. That's Washington Court House, Ohio zip 43160. I Googled some information on frequencies and the first hit was this site's info here: Fayette County, Ohio (OH) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

I used the "Choose a scanner for this area" tool and it recommended me the Uniden BC346XT (Analog) Trunktracker 3 for $199.99. BC346XT Portable Compact Handheld Scanner - Scanners at Uniden

I was curious, since the tech specs on Uniden's website doesn't say anything about EDACS does it support this feature? I'm quoting the counties frequency search when it says "All regular incident communications are now being done on the Fayette County EDACS trunked system"

Lastly, is this the only hand held option for me? I was checking out this model as well, for half the price $99.99 RadioShack PRO-164 1000-Channel Handheld Scanner : Handheld Scanners | RadioShack.com it has good/decent reviews and looks like good/decent support.

Is there a compelling reason to spend $200 on a scanner? If so, any and all information would be appreciated. I'm interested in hearing Fire, EMS, Police, Local School Bus chatter, Weather Alerts (Not sure if this is supported through NOAA or SAME or how this feature works)

I'm not interested in any aviation, HAM, etc.

Thanks in advance. I appreciate all you do here. Very helpful information for the less educated folks on radio information.

The 346 will handle EDACS Standard, which is what your county uses for the FD. A much simpler approach would be the 164. It is easier to program than the 346.
If all you want to do is listen to your county FD, I would go with the 164.
If you want to listen to the county SO/PD, you'll need to get the PSR-800. That is because Fayette has gone to a Phase II TDMA digital trunking system. The advice to get the Pro-18 won't let you hear the TDMA transmissions.
Until another scanner comes on the market<next year sometime>, it is the only, and expensive way to listen to TDMA systems.
HTH,
Larry

 

[MississippiPI]

If you are or will be a volunteer FF that's great. By virtue of that can't you have a two way radio and program it accordingly?


Be safe

 

[notdavelol]

If you are or will be a volunteer FF that's great. By virtue of that can't you have a two way radio and program it accordingly?


Be safe

Not sure if they issue this or if I buy this, but as of now.. I've only submitted my online application. I haven't had training or anything yet. Also with the 2-way radio, If I'm not mistaken you mean walkie talkie. That wouldn't allow me to hear what's going on with local PD and other interests I have at the moment.

 

[notdavelol]

The 346 will handle EDACS Standard, which is what your county uses for the FD. A much simpler approach would be the 164. It is easier to program than the 346.
If all you want to do is listen to your county FD, I would go with the 164.
If you want to listen to the county SO/PD, you'll need to get the PSR-800. That is because Fayette has gone to a Phase II TDMA digital trunking system. The advice to get the Pro-18 won't let you hear the TDMA transmissions.
Until another scanner comes on the market<next year sometime>, it is the only, and expensive way to listen to TDMA systems.
HTH,
Larry

The PSR-800 by GRE is EXPENSIVE!!!
I guess it's not a bad thing that I can at least monitor FD activity with a $100 device. Wish I could hear more with the 164.

 

[scribble79]

Most VFF departments don't let you have your own 2way unless you are a high enough ranking officer. You usually just get the pager for calls regarding your station.

Sent from my Samsung galaxy S2

 

[DisasterGuy]

As someone with many years of experience both in a volunteer and career fire/ems setting as well as responsible for an EDACS radio system I would offer you the following advice... Do NOT go out and purchase a scanner right now. There are several reasons for this including the fact that you are not yet a member of a department, do not know what that department will offer you and do not know what the future of communications technology will be in the jurisdiction you will be working in.

The current system being used that you linked to is an shown as an analog EDACS system however it is possible that there could also be ProVoice talkgroups in the system that an analog trunking scanner can not monitor. Further Harris, the manufacturer of that system, has announced EOL on the EDACS product line and new EDACS equipment will not be available in the fairly near future. The county will likely either upgrade their existing system to P25 (either Phase 1 or Phase 2) or as others have mentioned move to a regional system that would likely be either Phase 1 or Phase 2 P25. Both of these formats are digital and in the case of Phase 2 P25 there is only a single scanner that can monitor them and it certainly isn't what I would consider to be budget friendly.

I would recommend that you take one of two approaches. Option 1 would be to see if the county radio system is on Broadcastify and use your computer to monitor it at home and get one of the many smartphone apps to monitor it on the road. Your current scanner will certainly be capable of monitoring the paging channel listed in the DB as 154.695 MHz. Option 2 would be to pick up a used HT1000 portable radio or Minitor III or higher pager on eBay and program it RECEIVE ONLY on the VHF frequencies listed in the DB. Option 2 will provide you with significantly better sound quality and also allow you to program 2 Tone decode to alert for the fire departments paging tones for calls.